Hey all. Just wanted to write some hopeful news about a sometime stressful time of year, the holidays, with a perspective from our microbiome.
First piece of good news is that our microbiome loves company, even if we don’t.
If you are dreading the tension of family agendas and what I like to call, holiday attachment disorder, meaning everyone in America gets stressed about the expectations of holiday traditions, or lack there of them, fear not, it’s good for your biome.
We need diversity in our lives for our biome to thrive like a lush rainforest. When we step outside of our normal schedules, invite new people into our lives and travel to new places, we are ultimately expanding our internal diversity. Even the simple act of having a new guest for dinner is inviting a new set of micro-bacteria into our lives, enhancing the diversity of our own.
When we diversify our gut biome we are bringing in new life just like planting new seeds in your backyard, or a new tree that will bear fruit in years to come. The soil of your body must be planted and the best way to do that is exposure to new seeds.
If we do not plant seeds, water our soil and feed it pre biotic fiber it will look like a desert. Our life will be harder to sustain under those harsh conditions. The ecosystem of our body will be less resilient and our immune function less adaptable.
So when you are wishing this holiday season that uncle Larry would just leave you alone or the germaphobe in you freaks out at the airport, try feeling gratitude that it’s all bringing in more abundance to your life force.
The possibility of distress to our biome due to holiday stress should also be considered. There are mountains of science based evidence about the relationship between the gut microbiome and the brain through the gut brain axis. Emotional stress can create an unhappy gut that is working together with less efficiency and less harmony.
So my recommendation is to do your best at filling your cup before you fill others. This is really a good practice anytime in life and as a mother of 2 small ones I have learned to live this practice for my own survival.
So Shake lots of hands, give lots of hugs and kisses and don’t forget to hug yourself. Luv!